The present invention relates to vending machines which dispense a commodity upon insertion of a predetermined amount in coins into a coin slot in the machine. More particularly, the invention relates to a mechanism for setting the price at which the commodity is to be sold.
Of the many coin operated vending machines presently known, some employ a mechanism for setting one of two prices at which the vended article is to be sold. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,461, granted June 3, 1986 to Friedman et al. Another dual price setting mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,219, granted Dec. 20, 1983 to Christian. Friedman et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 838,526, filed Mar. 11, 1986, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,478 copending with the present application, also discloses a mechanism for setting one of two prices for the vended commodity.
There has been a need for a vending machine in which the price of the commodity can be set to at least three different prices. A further problem to which the present invention is directed is the situation where the changeover from a lower price to a higher price is neglected to be made. It is highly desirable that the vending control mechanism still deliver the commodity at the desired higher price so that customers who deposit the correct amount of coinage are not denied a vend.